VOL. XVm. KO. 44. 



AND HOIITICULTURAL REGISTER, 



367 



The profits of the silk culture arc identified in ii 

 great measure with the production of large and lirm 

 cocoons; such cocoons beiucj usually composed nf 

 a strong fibre, not liable to break or cause trouble 

 in reeling, or to waste: eight or nine pounds of 

 such cocoons being sufficient to produce a pound 

 of reeled silk ; such being invariably the produe,- 

 tion of the full fed silkworms brought suddenly to 

 maturity in the shortest possible space of time. A 

 strict attention to cleanliness, with car(?1"ul ventila- 

 tion; an elevated temperature, with constant and 

 regular feeding by night as well as day, being all 

 that is required: the evolutions of the silkworm 

 being wonderfully accelerated by heat and retarded 

 by cold. In Madras, the silkworm passes through 

 all its mutations in !•'{ days. The profit, in fine, 

 depends on tlie production of the greatest possible 

 amount of silk from the least possible amount of 

 food, with the least possible amount both of labor 

 and of time. 



At the annual exhibition of the American Insti- 

 tute, of New York, in 1838, a preMUum was award- 

 ed to Mr Danforth, of Hartford, Ct., for the fine 

 specimens of reeled silk which were then and there 

 exhibited by him, the produce of one eighth of an 

 acre of land : the trees and rocits being small and 

 of the growth of the preceding year, beinj planted 

 in close order in May, and completely covered be- 

 neath the soil, produced of leaves at a single gath- 

 ering, at the rate of 931'2 pounds per acre in the 

 first year, the cultivation being about the same as 

 for corn : the silk raised and reeled by himself and 

 family, none of wj^om had ever raised a silkworm or 

 reeled before. He found that thi; " large or long 

 crop silkworm " required but 90 pounds of leaves 

 to produce a pound of reeled silk. 



In Decenjber, in 1839, at the exhibition of the 

 American Silk Society at the city of Washington, 

 Mr Aaron Clapp, of Hartford, received the premium 

 of the Society, for fifty pounds of fine reeled silk, 

 which was raised by him from young trees of but 

 a year's growth, which had been buried beneath the 

 soil in May of that same 'year, on an acre and a 

 quarter of land from a single gathering of ti.e first 

 year. By weighing all the leaves, he found that 

 80 pounds only were required for a pound of reeled 

 silk. He states that Mr S. B Goodwin, of Weth- 

 ersfield, produced from a quarter of an acre of [and, 

 at the rate of 14,300 pounds of leaves from a sin- 

 gle acre of ground in the first year. 



Also, in Hecember, 1839, atthe exhibition ofthe 

 Ainerican Silk Society at Washington, the Rev. 

 Mr McLean, of Freehold, N. J., received the Socie- 

 ty's premium of §300 for twelve pounds of reeled 

 silk, which was exhibited by him, this being the 

 produce of one quarter of an acre of land, and of 

 small trees and cuttings which had been buried be- 

 neath the soil in May of that same year. The pro- 

 duce being at the rate of 48 pounds of prime silk 

 from an r.cre of land; the whole produce of the 

 leaves being ^.57(3 pounds, or at the rate of 10,30(5 

 pounds per acre. Although in this experiment 

 very great credit is justly due to the Rev. Mr Mc'j; 

 Lean for his highly meritorious exertions, yet as 

 214 or 215 pounds of leaves were used for the pro- 

 duction of a pound of pure silk, it is evident that 

 more than half the amount of food must have been 

 wasted, as has been abundantly jiroved by the ex- 

 periments of others. In that experiment the silk- 

 worms evidently suffered from cold during those 

 cold storms, as fire was seldom used ; also from 

 hunger, being fed but seldom, and only by day, and 

 never during the night. Hence they lingered gen- 



erally from 28 to 3(! or 40 days, and the cocoons 

 were consequently small, or 300 to the poimd, the 

 thread of diminished size, liablj to disproportionate 

 waste in reeling, and requiring ten pounds and ten 

 ounces for a pound of reeled silk. Mr McLean by 

 accurate account found that his reeled silk cost 

 him just $2 25 a pound, the same being worth 

 from $i 50 to $G in Philadelphia ; yet it is evi- 

 dent that by a properly regulated temperature 

 and more constant attendance during 21 days, with 

 the same amount of food, and from the same labor 

 of cultivation and of gathering of the leaves, more 

 than double the amount of silk would "have been 

 produced, or more than 100 pounds, with but little 

 increase in the amount of labor, except only in the 

 reeling. Other and experienced gentlemen have 

 calculated the cost of raising silk at less than .*2 

 per pound, even by the usual modes of manage- 

 ment, and on domestic establishments. 



In a congenial soil and climate, the trees of the 

 morus irulticaulis will attain to the height of from 

 to 8 feet from the cuttings of a single eye, during 

 the first summer, as I witnessed during my visits 

 to Portsmouth, in lower Virginia, in the latitude of 

 37° 12', in 1839. At that place, a tree G feet in 

 hciglit has been found to yield three quarters of a 

 pound of leaves at a single gathering in the first 

 summer, and the trees will bear stripping twice in 

 that same year, a few leaves only being left on the 

 tips; more than 10,000 such trees finding room on 

 an acre. In the second year, the growth being 

 strong and from well furnished roots, they will bear 

 stripping thrice or more. 



Ofthe mulberry tree there are many valuable va- 

 rieties. The mulberry is a deciduous tree in the 

 temperate regions, but an evergreen tree within 

 thi! tropics. In the high table lands of the Deccan, 

 in India, six crops of silk are produced in the year. 

 The trees will bear stripping six times, a few leaves 

 only being invariably left on the tips: they burst 

 forth again with extraordinary luxuriance. In oth- 

 er parts of India, twelve crops in a season are pro- 

 duced. In China also, several crops are produced 

 in a year. The mulberries in all those countries 

 being kept low like plantations of raspberries. This 

 mode and no other is recommended, to raise tht 

 7nulben-y in hedges. In A uerica, as far north as 

 New England, two successive crops in a year have 

 been obtained; and m the States of the South three 

 and four crops may be produced in a year, from the 

 saino trees of the morns multicaulis or Chinese 

 mulberry, which is of a rapid and prolonged growth. 

 Young worms require young and immature leaves, 

 tender and succulent ; but in the more advanced 

 and last Plages of the silkworm, leaves full grown 

 and more mature are the most suitable food. 



In most agricultural pursuits and in manufactures, 

 there is great saving both of labor, of time, and of 

 all things else, when operations are managed on an 

 extensive scale. Silk is by no means an exception 

 to this general rule, as the system of M. Beauvais 

 most fully proves : so also the Count Dandolo had 

 taught before. That silk may be cultivated on 

 every farm and domestic establishment, however 

 small, is a truth now established beyond dispute. 

 Those disliViguished masters have also proved, that 

 w.hen skill and science have come in aid, the silk 

 business may also be carried on to profit far great- 

 er in large establishments and on an extended scale. 

 The result o( the operations of the experimental 

 silk farjn, which was established by the governmefit 

 of France, as conducted by M. Beauvais, has lately 

 been published hy the French Minister of Commerce 



and of Agriculture. These results shew that the 

 number of days of labor docs not increase in pro- 

 portion to the number of silkworms ; for while the 

 labor necessary to rear a single ounce of silkworms' 

 eggs, or about 40,000, requires 31 days, ten ounces 

 require but 210 days, and 100 ounces but 1100 days 

 of labor. In the first instance, a day's labor pro- 

 duces but six |)ounds of cocoons; in the second in- 

 stance, a d.iy's labor will produce nine pounds ; but 

 in the last, or where 100 ounces of eggs are raised, 

 a day's labor will produce seventeen pounds of co- 

 coons. 



Hail, progress of improvement, all hail ! How 

 swift its speed I in all things how great, how won- 

 derful, in this our day ! In vain do those false men 

 oppose, — those foes to the interests of the country 

 and to its fame, who would paralize its energies 

 and its resources, — aliens, who would destroy its 

 industry and exhaust it of all its treasures for the 

 benefit of foreign nations,— those men, in fine, who 

 have ever been the unceasing opponents of every 

 improvement in every age, — in vain do they strive 

 to obstruct its progress and to cause a retrograde, 

 or to stop its march, which is onward and irresisti- 

 ble. WILLIAM KENRICK. 



.yonantmn Hill, Mwton, March 12, 1840. 



BONE. AS A MANURE. 



The use of bone as a manure for crops, particu- 

 larly -the drilled or root crops, is rnpidly increasing 

 in this country, wherever the ground article con be 

 procured, and it appears to justify all the reasona- 

 ble expectations -that have been formed respecting 

 its application. Mills for grinding bones have been 

 erected near Boston, New York and Troy, where 

 the dust is sold by the barrel or bushel, and where 

 tried has generally been highly approved. In all 

 our cities or large villages, almost any desirable 

 quantity of bones could be procured, were it of con- 

 sequence to preserve or obtain them ; and as the 

 expense of a mill for grinding cannot, we think be 

 great, would it not be well to have one at least in 

 every place where a saving or sale of this material 

 is 'practicable. Bones simply crushed are useful, 

 and their effects are inore durable than when made 

 fine ; hut when applied in the form of dust, the ef- 

 fect is quicker and more sensible. 



That bones should be an active manure when ap- 

 plied to plants, is evident from their composition. 

 According to the analysis of that excellent chem- 

 ist, Mr Hatchett, the component parts of bones are 

 chiefly four — tiic earthly salts, fat, gelatine and 

 cartilage. The earthly salts are three in number: 

 1st, phosphate of lime ; 2d, caibonate of lime ; 3d, 

 sulphate of lime. 



Experience in the use of bones has proved that 

 the gelatine is the most valuable part of the bones, 

 and this analysis proves, that of all hones those of 

 man and the calf are most serviceable as manures. 

 In England, the dust made from bones brought 

 from the battle fields of Europe, has been most es- 

 teemed, and until that source of supply was ex- 

 hausted, ship loads of them were imported annually 

 for grinding. Boiling bones for the purpose of 

 making portable soups by extracting the fat and 

 gelatine, injures then) for the purpose of agriculture, 

 in pro])ortion to the quantity extracted. Bones from 

 soap makers when crushed, are little more than the 

 salts of lime; and these, though very valuable on 

 some soils, can be obtained cheaper other ways. — 

 The average quantity of gelatine is not far from 

 I.IG ofthe bone. — Gtnesee Far. 



